Your Complete Guide to Taylor Lautner’s Movies — Including ‘The Twilight Saga’!

Updated: May 4, 2018 11:59 am

By Ed Gross

He may have begun his career as Sharkboy, but it didn't take long for Taylor Lautner to became one of Hollywood's new action hunks, a title he earned from his success as werewolf Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga. Of course, doing stunts is nothing new to the 25-year-old.

As a kid, he was heavily involved with sports, becoming a martial arts champion at the age of seven. When there were rumblings that he might have been dropped from the Twilight films out of fear that he couldn't match author Stephenie Meyer's description of the character, Taylor took action yet again, hitting the gym, arming himself with a nutritionist, and gaining 30 pounds of muscle. Needless to say, he kept the part while at the same time capturing the imagination of millions of fans around the world, and changing his life in the process.

Over the last few years, we've seen Taylor try out a number of different things, including a stint on the British sitcom Cuckoo, a part as a mentally-challenged outlaw in Adam Sandler's The Ridiculous 6, a role as a doctor in Season 2 of Scream Queens, and, most recently, a concerned sibling who kidnaps his younger brother to keep him away from their mother.

What follows is our complete guide to the films of Taylor Lautner, ranging from Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D to The Twilight Saga and beyond!

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Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005)

Tormented by bullies in school, Max (Cayden Boyd) dreams up an escape in the form of the adventures of superheroes Sharkboy (Taylor Lautner) and Lavagirl. But then, his creations suddenly appear before him, proclaiming that their home world of Drool is in danger and they need Max to help save it. Delighted, Max joins them in going up against a number of enemies who (in the tradition of The Wizard of Oz) seem to be the bullies from his real life in altered form.

Back when the film was released, Taylor, in promotional materials, described the character of Sharkboy like this: "When he was younger, about five years old, he was separated from his father in a storm. His father was a marine biologist, and after his father disappeared, he was all alone, except for the sharks. Raised by sharks, he became very self-confident. And he winds up being half-boy, half-shark, occasionally going into these shark frenzies, where he starts biting and ripping stuff. He gets, really, really crazy. And that's when you don't want to be near him. But he was fun to play, because he got to do a lot of acrobatic stuff. And he gets to move like a shark, and throw lots and lots of temper tantrums."

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Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (2005)

Taylor followed up his role as Sharkboy with Eliot Murtaugh in this sequel to the big hit comedy starring Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, and Hilary Duff, among others. When he was getting ready to do the film, Life Story magazine reported him saying, "It's about the disorganized family, Steve Martin's family, and they have a competition with this new family that they meet on summer vacation. My mom is Carmen Electra and my dad is Eugene Levy. We're this straight-A, athletic, organized family. And we have all these competitions like canoeing and jet skiing. I play a regular kid and I don't need makeup at all," like he did for Sharkboy.

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My Own Worst Enemy (2008)

Taylor played Christian Slater's son on this short-lived NBC series. On the show, Christian's character had a split personality: one of them, a mild-mannered businessman, and the other, a super (and deadly) spy. Taylor was Jack, and filmed two days a week for each of the series' 15 episodes. The then teen didn't speak much about the part, but did offer, "My character is a star varsity soccer player, and I'm going to be able to use some of my martial arts. It'll be cool."

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Twilight (2008)

As everyone knows, this is the first chapter in the epic love story between human Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). But stuck in the middle of the two of them for much of the series is Jacob Black, the werewolf, as played by Taylor Lautner. One point that Taylor makes clear is that he would not want to be in the character's position: "It's really rough. When I read the books, I felt really bad for Jacob. But now, having the opportunity to live Jacob's character with Kristen, I felt so much worse for him. It's a really tough situation. It is for all of them: Bella being torn between the two guys and Jacob not being able to fully get the girl that he likes or loves, and then Edward and all of his issues. But that's what makes the story so interesting."

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The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

Jacob Black's role in the first film in the Twilight series was pretty minimal, but that changed with this follow-up. As New Moon develops, Jacob learns that he has been chosen to become a protector of his people — a werewolf who defends them against the vampires. Reflects Taylor, "Jacob went through a transformation. You see a different physicality in Jacob's character. And as he becomes different physically, he changes emotionally. Pre-transformation, he's very clumsy, like that enthusiastic teenage boy who jogs around, tripping over his own feet. But when he goes through his wolf evolution, he becomes very agile."

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Valentine’s Day (2010)

In a series of interconnected stories, a number of Los Angeles residents wend their way through the highs and lows of love during a single day. As the holiday unfolds, they experience first dates, longtime commitments, youthful crushes and connections to old flames. One of the couples is played by a pair of Taylors: Lautner and Swift. "There were a lot of fantastic actors in it and I got to work with legendary director Garry Marshall," Taylor (Lautner) says. "The toughest part was fitting in filming. We had a very short break between New Moon and Eclipse, and I knew I wanted to be part of this film somehow, just to work with Garry and the entire cast. So I was able to squeeze a short thing in, quickly."

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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

Central to the third film in the Twilight saga is the growing triangle between Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black, and the fact that ultimately Edward and Jacob have to work together in the midst of growing tensions between vampires and werewolves, and particularly an undead army that is being brought together. As such, the film strikes a balance between romance and a number of important action sequences. "My favorite book was actually Eclipse," says Taylor. "The action levels continued to build in the series. I enjoy that, and also the fact that Twilight sets up the romance between Bella and Edward, and then Bella and Jacob's friendship grows in New Moon. But in Eclipse, it's actually the three of them physically together, and we have to team up and make this decision to try and be friends to protect her. I think that is the ultimate highpoint of the series where it's the love triangle in Eclipse."

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Abduction (2011)

In between Eclipse and the first Breaking Dawn, Taylor made no secret of the fact that he was looking for an opportunity to continue to stretch his action muscles: "I love action films," he said. "I'd love to do an action drama. I'm always looking to give my character something action -oriented to do." He got the chance in this film, playing Nathan Harper, who comes across his baby picture in a missing-person's database, leading him to believe that the people who have raised him aren't actually his real parents. When Nathan tracks down the people he thinks are his parents, even bigger trouble ensues.

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011)

With news that Bella and Edward are going to get married, Jacob is terrified that Edward will lose control during their honeymoon and turn Bella into a vampire. She survives, but discovers that she's pregnant with a rapidly-growing child. Fearing the pregnancy, the wolves turn against Bella and Edward, but but Jacob vows to protect his friend. "Jacob at the beginning of the film is the Jacob you've always seen before," Taylor explains. "He's immature, in love with Bella. Then he gets his heart crushed. He doesn't handle it well. He handles it how Jacob would usually handle it. He becomes an entirely different person. He's forced to mature and become his own man. If that means separating from his own pack brothers, he's willing to do that and he does."

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)

To save her life during giving birth, Edward turns Bella into a vampire. Transformed, she's stronger than any other vampire and will use that strength to help protect their daughter, Renesmee, from the Volturi vampire council that considers the child an abomination. Jacob and his people vow to help them as well. When filming was winding down, Taylor admitted, "I'm going to miss it. I think the thing I'll miss the most is actually the filming process. It was tough, the last couple of days of filming, and it was just surreal. It didn't hit until the last couple of days that we are done with this; we are not coming back. That is an extremely weird feeling."

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Grown-Ups 2 (2013)

The official description of the film is, "Lenny Feder (Adam Sandler) moves his family back to his hometown to be with his friends, but he finds — what with old bullies, new bullies, party crashers and more — that he hasn't left the crazy life behind in Los Angeles. Lenny's friends must also cope with their own challenges: Eric (Kevin James) must face his ultimate fear; Kurt (Chris Rock) has gone back to work as a cable repairman; and Marcus (David Spade) learns that he has an 18-year-old son." Taylor's character is part of a frat that causes no end of problems to the main characters, with Taylor noting, "My character and his friends aren't the nicest guys, but that's part of the fun of the movie. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the summer than hanging out with Adam Sandler and his crew. I grew up watching his movies. I'm a big fan."

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Cuckoo (2014-16)

A British sitcom airing on Netfix,it's officially described as follows: "Rachel shocks her proper British parents when she marries an American hippie, but it's just the first in a series of surprises for the family." One of those surprises comes in season two in the form of Taylor as Dale, who reveals himself to be Rachel's half-brother. In talking to ABC News, Taylor explained his reason for wanting to do the show: "In my head it kind of made no sense and that's why it made perfect sense. It took me a second to get used to their sort of humor. It's a little more sarcastic, a little more dry."

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Tracers (2015)

Taylor plays a New York City bike messenger who inadvertently finds himself at odds with a group of gangsters. The film required him to learn parkour, which Wikipedia describes as "a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation." Of that aspect of the film, Taylor related to the UK's Mirror, "I had a terrific parkour expert talking me through how to do each move. It was a blast being able to do all those crazy things and I loved learning parkour. It kind of felt as if I'd been training for it my whole life, with all the martial arts I did when I was a kid. I'm in the best shape of my life after doing this film."

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The Ridiculous 6 (2015)

Set in the Old West, Adam Sandler plays Tommy Stockburn, who, being raised by Native Americans, is given the name White Knife. Eventually he discovers that he has five half-brothers who are outlaws, among them Taylor as the mentally challenged Lil' Pete. Together they decide to track down their father. Britain's Daily Mail quoted Taylor as saying, "I read the script and it absolutely terrified me and the role terrified me. My role is pretty out there — he's a total country bumpkin — so I said to myself, if I just go for this and don't hold back, what could go wrong?" Catch the film on Netflix, and see for yourself.

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Scream Queens (2016)

In the show's second season, the action switches to a hospital where a new murder mystery (with dark humor) unfolds, including the arrival of serial killer the Green Meanie. Taylor plays one of the doctors, Cassidy Cascade. One thing Taylor says about the experience is that he refused to take his shirt off, noting to reporters at the Television Critics Association gathering, "I've had so much shirtless in my life that I need a little break. But there is a fair amount of sexy scenes for everyone." The audience appreciates it.

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Run the Tide (2016)

In a much more dramatic role than he usually takes, Taylor is Reymund Hightower, who has cared for his 10-year-old brother Oliver since their mother went to jail for drug charges. Now getting out, Reymund, attempting to protect Oliver, kidnaps him and heads to California. In an interview with InStyle explains, "The number one thing that drew me to this was that it's unlike anything I've ever done before. I knew it would be a huge challenge for me, and that's what I was looking for. I fell in love with the story and the character… I've recently learned that choosing projects that scare you is what allows you to grow as an actor, so that attracted me to it even more."